Ulstein Tries Out Second Siemens SOV at Sea

Ulstein’s yard number 310, the second wind farm service operation vessel (SOV) built for Bernhard Schulte (BS) Offshore and chartered out to Siemens Wind Power Service, is currently undegoing sea trials.

“The first reports state that the progress is good and testing so far has been successful,” Ulstein said via social media.

The SOV, currently going as “Windea TBN”, will service two of Vattenfall’s German offshore wind farms, the 288MW DanTysk and the 288MW Sandbank, starting in 2017.

This is the second SOV Ulstein has built for BS Offshore and Siemens. Her sister vessel, Windea La Cour, started working on Dutch Gemini offshore wind farm in September.

Both vessels are based on the SX175 design from Ulstein, and are equipped with the hull features X-BOW and X-STERN.

The hull features improve the sea characteristics when the vessels are positioned alongside the wind turbines during transferral of service technicians from the vessel through a heave compensated gangway, Ulstein said.

The vessels have accommodation for 60 persons in single cabins, of which 40 cabins are dedicated to technicians.